F. digitatus: " The root fibrous ; stipes or stem woody, cylindrical, expanded at its apex into a single cartilaginous. flat, nerveless, roundish leaf, quite entire at its margins, deeply cleft into numerous ensiform, mostly simple seg ments."—This species has in England received the appella tion of sea girdles and hangers, and in Scotland it is very generally known by the name of tangle : in Orkney it is called red-ware. It is the Skalmetare of the Norwegians. and the slat-mhara or seawand of the Scots Highlanders. It is one of the largest native species, having a stem often three feet in length, and a large divided frond ; and was denominated phycodendron or Fucus arboreus by some of the older writers. it is very abundant on all our rocky shores, growing chiefly on rocks which are only uncovered at the lowest ebbs, so that in neap tides the fronds are scarcely perceptible. The root consists of a congeries of thick horny fibres, often covered with Balanus striatus, and the interstices inhabited by asterias sphRru lata and other vermes. In deep water exposed to a mode rate current, but protected from the heavy action of the waves, it attains a great size, the stalk becoming as thick as one's wi ist, from three to four feet long, and the fronds of corresponding length, perhaps from ten to twelve feet. Both Turner and \Vahlenberg seem to doubt whether F. saccharinus (next described) and this, be specifically distinct. \Vahlenberg observes, that, near the shore, the winds and waves prevent a large growth, or the copious production of mucilage, and that in this way the appear ance of F. digitatus is so much changed, that a new name (saccharinus) is applied to it. We must be excused for remarking, however, that we have seen specimens of Fu cus saccharinus cast ashore from the Frith of Forth, which measured fifteen feet in length ; and for adding, that the Fucus digitatus which grows at the Black Rocks near Leith, exposed to winds and waves, is uniformly possessed of the distinctive characters of F. cligitatus as described by Turner. in Scotland, the very young stalks and leaves are eaten along with dulse, or F palmatus. Old Gerrard indites, that being boiled tender, and eaten with butter, pepper and vinegar, it makes good food. But at present it is employed only in the raw state. On the shores of some of the Orkney islands, particularly \Vestray, it is cut by means of long knives or scythes, managed by men in boats at low water ; it is tied in large bundles, and being floated ashore, is burned into kelp in reverberatory furnaces. Cap tain Richan of Rapness has considerable merit in forming a very pure kelp by these means. It may be stated, that Dr Traill of Liverpool, from a series of experiments made by him while resident in the northern islands, found that its fronds yielded more kelp than equal portions of F. vesi culosus, or any of the other species generally used in the manufacture.
In Scotland the stems are sometimes put to rather an unexpected use,—the making of knive-handlcs. A pretty thick stem is selected, and cut into pieces about four inches long. Into these while fresh, arc stuck blades of knives, such as gardeners use for pruning and grafting. As the stem dries it contracts and hardens, closely and firmly em bracing the hilt of the blade. In the course of some months the handles become quite firm, and very hard and shrivell ed, so that, when tipt with metal, they are hardly to be dis tinguished from hartshorn. In the north of Scotland, and especially in the Orkney and Shetland islands, the large stalks are dried and used as fuel. This is likewise done in Norway, and on some of the shores of France, where fuel is nearly equally scarce, but much less needed. The stems are generally invested with many parasitic fuci and confer v2e, and not unfrequently with the shell-fish called anomia ephippium and scala.
A curious fact may be mentioned relative to this species. Dr Yule of Edinburgh being engaged in some experiments, in order to ascertain the state in the saline matter exists naturally in the fuci; had some thick stems of F. digitatus hung up in his cellar. From different parts of one of these, young shoots of frondlets germinated,—of *mat delicacy and beauty, being nearly transparent. Do the fuci, then, produce buds from their stems, like most laud plants ; or did these germs originate from seeds ac cidentally attached to the stein, when in its native element ? On being brought into a warm room, the young shoots speedily decayed.
F. bulbosus: "The root hollow, swollen into a bulb, rough all over ; stipes coriaceous, flat, twisted once at its origin, its margins undulated in the lower part ; its apex expanded into a single, cartilaginous, flat, nerveless leaf, entire at its margins, deeply cleft into numerous ensiform, mostly sim ple segments. The fructification consists in oblong seeds immersed in the margins of the stipes."—This is the Fu cus polischides of .the Flora Scotica, sometimes called sea furbelows. In size it far exceeds any other sea-weed found on our shores, and is certainly not undeserving the titles of giganteus and arboreta, sometimes bestowed on it by the earlier botanists. It is very curious that, notwithstanding its size, Linnxus seems to have been unacquainted with it. It sometimes occurs twelve feet long ; and it is of such a specimen in its wet state, that Lightfoot speaks, when he says, that a single plant is a sufficient load for a man's shoulders. Lt is plentiful in the Pentland Frith, and num bers of large specimens are frequently cast ashore in the bay of Thurso, as well as on the Orkneys. It is likewise pretty common among the Western Islands. It is found more sparingly on the east coast of Scotland. On the shores
of the south of England, of France, and in the Mediterra nean, it is very abundant. It is always found in deep water, occupying very commonly, in the southern seas of Europe, those kinds of habitat F. digitatus generally fills in the north. It very often forms a constituent of the drift ware collected on the Scottish shores alter storms, and either burnt into kelp, or laid on corn lands as a manure.
In treating of the kelp fuci, it has already been men tioned, that most of them yield a substitute for winter pro vender to cattle on the bleak shores of northern countries. Sonic others, which are frequently einyloycd as articles of human sustenance, and which have sometimes saved the inhabitants of those countries from the honors of famine, arc now to be enumerated ; with the addition of two or three which are occasionally employed as ingredients in salads and condiments.
F. saccharinus: n The root fibrous ; fibres lottg and branching; stipes almost woody, cylindrical, undivided, ex panding at its apex into a single cartilaginous Ilat simple linear oblong nerveless leaf, entire at its margins : the fructification consists in scattered seeds immersed in the leaf."—.This species is often called sea•belt. It is very common, and one of the largest of our fuci. The colour is a deep olive brown, sometimes partly green. WahIcti berg mentions that he ascertained by experiment that the plant contains no mucilage. An extraordinary circumstance in the history of this plant (already alluded to) was correctly observed by Mr Bingham of Uxbridge. A con traction is observed to take place in the frond every year : this is occasioned by a new or secondary frond proceeding from the stem, and pushing the old or primary frond be fore it. Mr Turner was the first who correctly described the fructification. It is observable in the centre of the leaf, in the form of irregular spots, the frond being at these places much thickened, and the surface found, on applying a microscope, to be covered with innumerable extremely minute oblong brown seeds. Lightfoot mentions, that the common people on the coast of England sometimes boil this species as a pot-herb. The Icelanders, we are told by Anderson, boil it in milk to the consistence of pot tage, and eat it with a spoon. They are also said to soak it in fresh water, dry it in the sun, and then lay it up in wooden vessels ; it soon becomes covered with a white efflorescence of salt, which has a sweetish taste, and in this state they eat it with butter. Lastly, it is mentioned that they feed their tattle with the plant, both in its recent and dry state. There is, however, every reason to think that all this is more properly applicable to Fucus palmatus or anise, than to the true F. saccharinus ; for Mr Hooker in forms us that the alga saccharifera Islandica is the Fucus palmatus. We are positively certain that the Fucus sac charinus of the Frith of Forth, prepared according to the usual methods of cookery, makes a wretched pot-herb, and that, in its unprepared state, it is of so harsh a nature that cattle cannot relish it. The Norwegians, we may add, on the authority of Wahlenberg, prize it so little, that their name for it, Toll-tare, implies that it is fit only for the devil. Very different, however, is the estimate of its merits in some parts of the East Indies. It is there so extensively used as human food, that it is well entitled to be placed at the head of the list of edible fuci. Thunbcrg, in his Flora Japonica, states that it is much used in Japan, and is there prepared in such a way as to be quite esculent. Barrow, in his Voyage to Cochinchina, confirms this statement, and men tions, that, when valuable presents are made by the Japan ese, they are laid on pieces of this fucus, in testimony, as he thinks, of their regard for it as the general emblem of those sources of subsistence which the sea affords. He is further of opinion, that the famous chinchou jelly of China is in part made from this species. If further proof be want ed, it is furnished by Broughton, who informs us, that in Volcano Bay, in the island of Matsmai, he saw a junk la den with sea-weed, which he affirms, without hesitation, to have been Fucus saccharinus. Ile says that it grows plentifully on the shores of Volcano Bay, and that the peo gle were constantly engaged in cutting it, drying it in the sun, and making it up into bundles for exportation. He repeats, in three different places of his work, that the plant alluded to is Fueus saccharinus; and although neither Bar row nor Broughton seem to have any pretensions as bota nists, they are supported in this instance by Thunberg, who ranks high as a botanical authority. It may therelore scorn extravagant to surmise the possibility of all these writers being in a mistake concerning the identity of the species ; yet to those best acquainted with this tribe of plants, it would be no great surprise hereafter to learn, that the Fu cus saccharinus of the East is in reality a nondescript spe cies, resembling the British plant. In the mean time, how ever, we must receive them as the same, and conclude, that the Fucus saccharinus or our shores is neglected and despised, merely because we are ignorant of the mode of preparing it; and that, from the want of this knowledge, a plant, capable of affording a useful article of food, or even a nutritious delicacy, is of no use to us, but to swell the heap of drift-ware for the kelp furnace or the dunghill. For the former purpose, indeed, it is not much esteemed, as it is found to become bleached and saltless from even slight exposure to rain.